Getting up and going to school early is no indication of IQ. What a stupid idea. So at your school if you were a night person you were automatically relegated to dunce status. Glad I didn’t go there. We’re brown eyed people considered smarter than blue eyed people and given a better education too, or vice versus?
I would think it obvious that the children were first tested, and only then assigned - based on the test results - to come to school at either the usual time or an hour earlier.
The "Early Birds" and the "Late Birds" were undoubtedly referred to as such not because of their innate sleeping habits, but rather to avoid stigmatizing them with such designations as the "Smart Pupils" and the "Slow Learners."
Let me guess: You were one of those children that the school administrators said were "so smart" that you didn't have to come at all!
< /joke >
Regards,
You haven’t got the subtext here. Its not really about early and late, but academic tracking. This is, or was, just another pretext to keep tracking.
Tracking is necessary, but it has been under constant attack for decades.